Ino's Cheer
by Princess Phyre
Summary: AU. Sakura joined the cheerleading team, but she found she didn't have the courage to get up in front of a crowd with out the encouragement of a certain blond haired girl...


**Author's note:**

This is rated T mostly for language. There're only a few instances, but I figured I'd be on the safe side.

…Please don't ask me if this takes place in Japan or America. I don't even know…

Disclaimer: Guess what? I don't own Naruto! Gasp! So hard to believe, right?

Anyways, enjoy my humble little Inosaku oneshot. Review, please~!

~Phyre

* * *

"I decided to join the cheerleading squad." Sakura Haruno told her therapist.

"Excellent, Sakura! I think that will be good for you." He responded, scribbling something down in his notebook. Sakura chewed on the side of her cheek nervously, wondering if she should mention the fact that she had fainted whenever asked to perform in front of people outside of practice.

"And what else is new? How are things with the Uchiha boy?"

"Sasuke-kun…? Things are great. I've been staying one hundred feet away from him at all times, just like the police officer told me to."

"Good girl. And how is your little friend?"

"Naruto? Other than the fact that he _stole_ my Sasuke-kun?" Her breathing became heavy and her grip tightened on the chair. "I can't _believe_ him, doctor! After everything we've been through together…!"

Her doctor handed her a stress ball. "Calm down, now, Miss Haruno…. That's right, take a few deep breaths…" She squeezed the small green orb in her hands, so hard that they both heard a muffled _pop_ sound, followed by an explosion of beads.

"Oh, I'm sorry…!"

"It's all right, it's all right." He assured the distressed girl. "I'll just go out and buy another one… again."

Sakura nodded, blushing, and the therapist decided to change the topic of discussion – preferably to something that _wouldn't_ result in the destruction of his office.

"So, back on this cheerleading bit… When's your first game?"

"This weekend." She told him, gripping her stomach. It already made her nauseous just _thinking_ about getting up in front of a crowd in that tiny miniskirt.

"Ah. Are you prepared?"

"Yes… and no…" She knew all of the words, and she had memorized each dance step. She was strong enough to send the team captain, Karin, flying off the pyramid when it came time for the jumps, and she had spent an hour in front of the mirror perfecting her smile.

…But she still wasn't prepared.

"You see," she began, "for me this isn't really a competition between our school and the other one. This game will be more of a personal battle for me –"

"Don't you think that's a bit selfish, Sakura?"

She pierced him with a deadly glare. "I wasn't _finished_, doctor." Her hands were forming fists around the arms of the chair again. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. "Of course, how… rude of me…? Please go on…?"

Apparently those were the right words to say. Her face brightened again as she said "Thank you, doctor, I appreciate that. Now, as I was saying, I see this as more of a personal battle for myself. There's this girl on the other team. We were friends in grade school, but then in middle school, things changed. And By 'things changed', I mean 'she became a total bitch-'" She stopped and covered her mouth. "Oh, doctor! I'm so sorry! I don't know what on earth could have possessed me to say such a foul word!"

"It's fine." He told her – in truth, he was feeling a bit relieved that the girl in front of him was, in fact, a real-life teenager that did teenager things like swear, and not some kind of perfectionist-demon-from-hell.

"And so anyways, this girl – we see each other all the time, even though we go to separate schools, to quiz ourselves on science and math and –"

"If you hate each other so much," he cut in, "Why do you spend so much time with her? Is that really healthy, for either of you?"

"Well, doctor, you wouldn't believe it, but… she's really the only one willing to study with me. I could ask Naruto to help me with my school work, but I'm not talking to him right now, and he's a total idiot, anyways."

"...right." He said, rubbing his temples. _How much do I get paid for this again?_

"So, anyways, this girl… Ino… it's like her whole point in life is to make me miserable. She used to be so nice, but now… she constantly teases me! About my hair, my forehead… " Sakura paused and sniffed. "And I'll be facing off against her at this weekend's game! Oh, doctor, I don't know if I can do this…"

He glanced at his watch. _Oh thank god._ Their hour-session was up. "…Well, Sakura, I'm very sorry to hear that. We'll certainly talk about this when we see each other again next month. Goodbye until then –"

"Wait!" she said as he ushered her out the door. "I'm afraid I've got another session, with someone who actually has real prob- er, I mean, we'll talk again next month."

…

The weekend came much too fast. Sakura managed to force herself into the car her mother had bought for her and to the site of the game. "Change of plans." Karin announced when she got there. "Sakura will be on top of the pyramid." She tossed a red lock over her shoulder, smirking at Sakura.

"That's not even remotely fair!" Temari exclaimed. "Sakura can't even do the cheers right when people are watching…" But Karin knew all that. "You!" Sakura shoved a finger at the girl's chest. "You're just jealous, because your restraining order said _two_ hundred feet!"

"Ha!" Karin retorted back. "Like that could stop me! I'm wearing Sasuke's boxers this very minute!"

The whole team quieted as everyone turned to stare at Karin. She glanced nervously from girl to girl.

"Uh, just kidding, of course…!" She added hurriedly, before directing her attention back to Sakura. "Look, I don't care what your problem is. You're doing the jump today, end of discussion." Sakura groaned inwardly, dreading having to fail in front of _everybody_… including her long time rival, Ino.

_Wait. Why am I even thinking about her so much?_

There was no more time to argue. The game was starting, and the girls all had to be out on the field.

Usually when she tried to cheer in front of people, Sakura felt like the entire world was there, staring at her, waiting for the opportunity to laugh at her. She couldn't remember any of the steps, and all that she could see were the hundreds of eyes wrapping their gaze around her, eating her flesh inch by inch.

…But that day, when she got out on to the field all she could see was a certain blond haired girl – who looked surprisingly good in a cheerleading uniform. Anger – and possibly something else, though she was in no mood to admit it – burned hot at her blood. How dare Ino look at her so arrogantly, one eyebrow cocked as if to say _I doubt you can do it, forehead girl!_

"You just watch, Ino-pig!" Sakura called across the field.

"Um," Temari said. "Karin, I think Sakura's lost it…"

"No!" Sakura silenced her teammate. "I am doing this fucking cheer."

And she didn't forget any of the steps. Her voice didn't shrink in her mouth, she didn't feel the urge to cover up her exposed stomach with her arms, and she didn't faint or puke. Every step she took was an act of defiance against Ino. Once, she thought she saw her rival smile encouragingly, but that just fueled her more – _how dare she patronize me?_

When it came time to do the dreaded jump, she wasn't afraid – only desperate to prove to Ino that she could do it, dammit!

So she took a deep breath, and as they threw her into the air, did the triple-mid-air-flip perfect, even though she had never practiced it. She wasn't even worried about the fact that the audience had just gotten three peeks at her underwear. She stuck the landing, her face thick with sweat, and everyone cheered – she bowed and blew kisses to the crowd, shouting "Thank you, thank you!" at them, only stopping when something wet hit her head. Someone had thrown a cup of lemonade at her. "Shut up!" they called. That was when she realized that the crowd's unanimous cheer had been because the football team had won the game. "Oh." She said. "Right."

…

After the game, Ino approached her, and Sakura met her with a smirk. She had been watching Ino closely throughout the game, and she hadn't done nearly as well as Sakura herself had. Expecting a comment about the size of her forehead, or the frusteratingly small size of her boobs, Sakura prepared a comeback in her head.

"You look sexy in a cheerleading uniform."

"Oh yeah? Well you're a – wait, what?" Ino was always saying things like that. Right after tearing Sakura's self-esteem to shreds, she'd make a suggestive comment. "Well, yes. Yes, I do, and I know you're jeal-"

Ino leaned in close to Sakura, and for a second the pink-haired girl thought she was about to receive a kiss. "I heard you were nervous about this." Ino whispered. "I'm glad you got over it. You did well, kid. And you really do look sexy…" Ino leaned in even closer, and Sakura closed her eyes and puckered up.

"You have a pimple right there." Ino jabbed her right above her eyebrows. "What?" Sakura said, dazed. "But I thought you were going to –"

"What?" Ino's mouth remained an innocent, neutral, line, but her eyes glittered with mischief. "By the way, forehead girl… you're not allowed within one hundred feet of Sasuke-kun anymore, but my restraining order was lifted the other day."

Sakura was still blushing, rubbing the spot where Ino's hot breath had brushed her cheek. It took her a few seconds to process Ino's threat. "Don't you try anything on him!"

"Aw, jealous? Don't worry, Saku-chan, I promise my heart belongs solely to you."

"You're teasing me again!" Sakura accused. Ino placed a hand on her knee. "Am I?" She asked, staring deep into Sakura's eyes. A car beeped into the distance, and suddenly the romance between them melted away. "Oh, that's my mom!" Ino said cheerily. "Got to go! We're still on for a study session tomorrow, right?" She ran off before Sakura had a chance to answer.

…

"Oh, doctor, it's awful! I can't do any of the cheers right for the games unless Ino's there!" She put her face in her palm.

"…Why not just ask her to come to the games…?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Obviously if I do that, she's won, hasn't she? If I can only do my cheer when she's around, then it's not my cheer anymore! It's Ino's cheer!"

"Sakura, there's nothing wrong with looking for comfort in another human being –"

"She's always on my mind! And not just in the I-want-to-beat-her-over-the-head-with-a-pom-pom-over-and-over-until-she-bleeds-to-death-then-cut-her-body-into-a-million-pieces- sort of way any more!"

"You've put a disturbing amount of thought into this."

"Can we stay on track, doctor?"

"Listen, Sakura, it sounds like you…enjoy this girl's company, if you understand what I'm saying, but you're too afraid to tell her how you –"

"No, I don't like her company! Haven't you been listening? I hate her company! I want to strangle her company until it begs for mercy, then choke off all it's air anyways and toss the corpse into a piranha infested body of water!"

"…should I be concerned…?"

"Uh! How am I supposed to concentrate on my schoolwork when I'm always seeing that sexually impertinent wink of hers and always hearing that stupid giggle?"

"Just tell her how you feel!"

"How I…. feel…?"

"The hour's up, Sakura. See you next month." For once she exited the office without complaining.

_How… I…feel…?_

…

"Ino. I like you."

"I like you too, forehead-girl. We're friends, aren't we?"

Sakura ignored the comment about her forehead. "That's… that's not what I meant. I can't cheer right without you. I feel like whenever I'm out on the field, it's you I'm cheering for, and I don't want to be afraid of that feeling anymore. You make me so mad, but I'm still happy when we're together in a weird sort of way, and when I think about you with Sasuke I want to scratch someone's eyes out. I, you know… like-like you."

"Oh. Is that all you've been so nervous about? I knew that."

"…What?"

"It's only obvious. Why do you think I've been teasing you so much? It's certainly not because I'm a les-"

Sakura didn't want to hear it. She just didn't want to know what Ino was or wasn't, so she shut the other girl up the only way she could think of.

Kissing Ino was like doing the triple-flip jump; first there was a panicky feeling in her stomach, and then for just a second she was flying.

"…bian." Ino finished when they broke for air. "Wow. That was, um. Wow." Somewhere in the distance a phone rang. Sakura was beating herself up for being so _stupid_ – she was almost entirely certain that she hadn't done the right thing with her tongue, and Ino had just told her that she didn't want to be kissed by another girl anyways and-

But then she saw the grin creeping across Ino's face. "You have pretty eyes, forehead-girl." Ino told her, and Sakura blinked, wondering how it was possible for Ino to find beauty in her face when she herself only saw ugly in the mirror.

Sakura realized the phone ringing was her own. "Hello? Mom? Yeah, I'll be there. Just a few minutes, okay?"

"Got to go to dinner now!" Sakura chirped.

"But-" Ino started. "Sorry, she'll be super pissed if I'm late. We're going to the movies this weekend, right? Okay, see you then!" She ran off without waiting for a spoken answer, but knew that Ino's reply was 'yes'.


End file.
